


Time was Never on our side

by unfortunatelynormal



Series: Bahumia weeps (and the song goes on) [1]
Category: Not Another D&D Podcast (Podcast)
Genre: Hardwon dies, This Is Sad, Wrote this immediately after episode 100, i cried a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27195349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfortunatelynormal/pseuds/unfortunatelynormal
Summary: Hardwon Surefoot was always going to die first.(But he does not die alone).
Relationships: Moonshine Cybin & Hardwon Surefoot & Beverly Toegold V
Series: Bahumia weeps (and the song goes on) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985260
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Time was Never on our side

Hardwon Surefoot was always going to die first. 

When he was still human it was obvious. Humans have one of the shortest lifespans of races in Bahumia. Hardwon always thought,

_I get a hundred years or less. I have to make it count._

When he was changed into a vampire, the tiny screaming part of his soul that was still him raged,

_Is this it? Am I this monster forever?_

Turns out, nope. Thanks to the great and wonderful Moonshine Cybin _(heart home family sister kind love truest love protector protected mine her own)_ Hardwon wasn’t a monster anymore. He was a half-elf, and that couldn’t have been more perfect. Combining his humanity _(tall-dwarf bastard unwanted wanted alone always alone)_ with the elven hospitality of the Crick _(safety someday home to love is to be loved)_ made him so happy he nearly died again. It only extended his lifespan another hundred years at best though.

Over and over again, Hardwon dies or goes down and comes up again, because he has the strongest friends in the world. Beverly _(family heart home student brother teacher protector protected his own mine)_ brings Hardwon up when Moonshine can’t, and the world spins on. Yet in a scant few years, Hardwon begins to age.

His friends do not.

Quietly, Hardwon “retires” to his stump in the Crick. He spends his days fighting the odd monster roaming through that Beverly Mishka PawPaw the Second doesn’t get and chases after wild Crick young’uns. He carries MawMaw wherever she needs to go and spends his nights trading jokes and laughter with Ol’Cobb over crick water and crawdads. 

He never falls in love again _(had Gemma had Moonshine in every way he could have her and that’s enough)_. He never marries. He never has children. The Surefoot line ends with the one who began it.

When Hardwon begins to feel the withering of age and true weakness in his chest, he asks MeeMaw to call Bev and Moonshine back to the Crick. When they slam open the door to his stump, they find him sitting in a chair, Godshammer resting across his knees.

“Promise me you’ll find the next dwarf worthy to wield it.” This is the only request Hardwon makes before his death. They will gladly see it fulfilled.

Hardwon Surefoot dies surrounded by friends. Moonshine on his right, Beverly on his left.

Beverly accompanied by his husband Erlin (halflings have lifespans somewhere between a human and a half-elf) (but Pelor has allowed Erlin more time on the Material Plane as a blessing to Beverly) ( _a fate not shared by Hardwon Surefoot_ ).

Next to Moonshine sits Ol’Cobb, and MeeMaw and Lucanus sit by the door. (Cobb and Jolene and Lucanus have lost their share of people. Hardwon will not be the last, but he is Moonshine’s _first_ ).

In a place of honor, curled against his chest, MawMaw keeps vigil over her one and only champion until he breathes his last breath.

Moonshine and Beverly weep, and Bahumia weeps with them. The skies pour rain for the next two weeks, not unlike Thiala’s cataclysm, and all of Bahumia knows that Hardwon Surefoot is dead.

After that, friends and allies from across the continent begin to arrive to pay their respects. It seems as if everyone, _everyone,_ the Band of Boobs met on their travels has outlived Hardwon. For the few who did not, descendants come in their place. _(Hardwon Surefoot was the best of the three at keeping up connections. He regularly made trips out of the Crick to visit old friends and their children, joy following him wherever he went)._

Hardwon Surefoot dies, and he does not do it alone as he once thought he might.

Hardwon Surefoot dies loved.

And as he makes his way, not to Kord’s Great Hall or Morridan’s Forge (though in 50 years he will head that way) but to his mother’s open arms in Shadowfell, he knows.


End file.
